Trixie Belden and The Case of the Stray Dog
by fanfaction lover
Summary: This is the story of Trixie Belden and the Bob Whites Jim finds a stray dog and they have to find who lost him.
1. Chapter 1

Life in Sleepy-side on Hudson was a good life. Jim had been adopted by the Wheelers and his life had never been the same. He had his dog Patch went everywhere together.

It was early in the morning and most of the Wheeler household had not woken up yet. This was his favorite time to go for a ride. Many times he and his horse had gone out early in the morning and this morning was no different. Patch had been running ahead when he had started barking. As Jim approached the spot where Patch was he looked down.

There in the grass was a dog. The dog looked very hungry and scared. He was shivering from the cold. Jim picked up the little dog that he did not think was more than a puppy and headed back up to the mansion.

Jim brought the horse back to the stables and one of the hands took the horse for him. Jim showed him the sick dog and the man shook his head. The dog was very sick and he hoped that it would be all right.

As Jim opened the door to the house, he was met by Miss Trask. She was a good friend of his and had a very kind heart. Once again both his mother and father were out of town and she was like a mother to Honey and him. The cook said "My goodness" and then went and got some blankets for the poor dog.

The dog had no collar or license and Miss Trask thought that they should bring the dog to the vets. She called the vet for Jim and they told her to bring the dog in as soon as they could.

By this time Honey had come into the kitchen looking for some breakfast. She looked over and saw Jim and Miss Trask bent over looking at something. She walked over and saw the saddest looking dog she had ever seen. The dog looked as though it had been out in the cold for days. As they gave the dog something to eat, he acted as though he hadn't eaten for weeks. They felt sorry for him.

Miss Trask and Jim got ready to go to the vet. They got out the cage that Jim used for Patch and put the dog in it. The vet was a local vet and the ride was just a ten minute ride. The dog seemed nervous, but got into the cage with some coaxing.

As they approached the vet's office Jim got worried. He hoped that the vet could help the poor dog. But, he was so skinny and he had been out in the cold for a while. He could clearly see that he was in distress.

As Miss Trask and Jim entered the vet's office the nurse looked over. She couldn't believe the condition that the dog was in. She knew the Wheeler family well and was glad that Jim had found the dog when he did. The dog's fur was all matted and his eyes were running. He was obviously very weak and skinny. She took the dog and brought him right into the examination room.

The vet came in soon and took one look at the dog and shuttered. The dog was in extreme distress and needed her care immediately. She gave him a thorough examination and then took a look at Jim and Miss Trask.

"I am sorry, but this dog is very sick. He is around seven years old and is a cocker spaniel. He now weighs just a little over fourteen pounds and he should weigh around twenty pounds. I have drawn some blood, but I am sure he is anemic. I would like to keep him for a couple of days and give him some fluids . He has signs that he was a healthy dog at one time, though. He was someone's pet. What I will do is put out the word that I have found the dog and see if someone is out there looking for him."

Jim and Miss Trask realized what the vet said was right. The dog needed to be kept there so that the vet could keep an eye on him. Jim pet the dog that was attempting to wag his tail and said "Please call as soon as you hear anything. When he is ready to leave here we can take him and then try to find him a good home." he told her.

Miss Trask thought about saying something. She knew that the Wheelers wouldn't want another dog. But this was an emergency and they wouldn't want the dog left alone in the cold either. The vet took all their information and with that the two of them left for home alone.

Honey had been home anxiously waiting for Jim and Miss Trask to come home. She had called her friend Trixie and told her about the dog. As Honey watched out of her bedroom window she saw the car with her brother and Miss Trask in it coming up the driveway. She ran down to the car and was surprised not to see the dog. She looked at her brother and Miss Trask with questioning eyes.

As Jim and Miss Trask walked up to the house with Honey they told her what the vet had said. The dog would be coming home in a few days. But they now needed to find out who was the dog's owner. They had a new mystery and would need their friends from the Bob[Whites of the Glen to help them once again. Jim was going to call an emergency meeting at the clubhouse for three that afternoon.

Honey went upstairs and called everyone and told them what had happened. Everyone was going to be able to meet them at the clubhouse at three, so she went down to get something for a late lunch. At quarter of three Jim and Honey headed out to the clubhouse to wait for their friends. To their surprise though, everyone was already there.


	2. Chapter 2

Jim was the first to arrive at the clubhouse that afternoon. He had a couple of ideas on what they could do to find out where the dog had come from. He wouldn't mind keeping him, but he already had a dog.

As the group of friends arrived at the meeting they all had their own ideas. Trixie had been wondering just how far a dog could make it if they were lost. She had heard that a dog can travel a long way.

As everyone took their seats around the clubhouse Jim started to explain everything that the vet had told him. She says that it is a male about seven years old. He is a tan cocker spaniel and was certainly at one time someone's pet. Even scared and cold like he was he came up to me and Patch. He is friendly and very sick.

Honey thought of the sick little dog who was all wet and shivering so bad in her kitchen. Mrs. Trask had put a warm blanket down in a box and had put a blanket on top of the dog too. He had eaten like he hadn't eaten in a week. The poor dog was so pitiful.

"I am open to suggestions on what we can do to find the rightful owner. " Jim told his friends.

Trixie spoke up with an idea. "I think that we should start by putting up posters all around town. We can ask for permission to leave the posters at different businesses. " she said.

"My father has a copier and we could use that to make a lot of them. Tomorrow Mrs. Trask and I are going shopping at the mall. We could go there and hand out the flyers. Maybe some of the stores will let us post them too." Honey told them.

"I don't have a picture of the dog but I have a polaroid camera. We could stop at the vets office and take a picture of him. That would make the flyers better. People might recognize the dog." Jim told them.

Brian was the one with a car and he said that he would go with Jim and Mart and that they could get some pictures of the dog too."

Each one of them would ask around, but for now that was about all that they could do to help the poor dog. Once the dog was back at the Wheeler estate . " Once we have him here we can take him out and around and see if he recognizes anything or someone who sees him recognizes him." Jim told the group.

So with that Trixie and Di and Honey began to make the flyers. They could do everything, but put the picture of the dog on it. When they were done they thought that the flyers looked pretty good. They had made the print multi colored and it said FOUND LOST COCKER SPANIEL SEVEN YEARS OLD MALE WHEELER ESTATE SLEEPY-SIDE ON HUDSON NY.

As they waited for the boys to come back with the picture they made plans on where they would go to put the posters up. There were several small stores in town and they wanted the posters to be put everywhere.

Jim and his friends had arrived at the vet's office and gotten permission to take a picture of the dog. With the polaroid camera the picture would be ready in sixty seconds. They then could attach the picture to the flyer and make copies of it. The dog was already beginning to look like he felt better and his tail wagged when he saw Jim coming out to the yard where he was.

Jim took his camera and snapped a couple of pictures. One of the pictures came out perfect and the three friends decided that was going to be the photo that they were going to be using. As they left the office the vet said that she would be more than willing to post the flyer at the office and that she would talk to a couple other vets that she knew in the area. Jim was glad that he was going to be able to leave some flyers with the vet. To think that this vet had friends from other towns, someone would see the flyer.

As the girls heard the boys return they watched as the came in with the photo. Trixie took the picture and glued it to the paper that they had made. The flyer had come out good and it was time to make copies.

Mrs. Trask helped them set the printer up and watched carefully as they adjusted the printer until the poster came out exactly as they wanted. Once that was done she hit the printer for 500 copies. Jim thought that amount should be enough, but he kept a copy of the original in case they needed more.

When they had finished making the copies Mrs. Trask said she had a meeting at the church that evening and she would bring a few copies to them. Perhaps they would recognize the dog.

Everyone piled into Brian's car and headed to the downtown area. With a stapler in hand the girls went one way while the boys went the other. "We will meet back here in an hour all right?" Trixie said.

The boys waved their hands and agreed to it. The town was a small one and everyone knew the Bobwhites of the Glen. Each business had been touched one way or another by the nice group of children. As they walked down the street they put posters on the store windows at bus stops and on trees and poles. By the end of the hour they were done with their side of the street and had hung over sixty posters.

The friends all met in an hour and agreed to stand outside of the post office and grocery store. There they would hand out the posters as people wen t in and out of the stores doing their business. Those were the two busiest places in town. By the end of the day they had talked to just about everyone in town and no one had recognized their dog. Tired and somewhat disheartened they left late that afternoon for home.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning at the Belden household the talk was of the poor dog that Jim had found. Trixie's father agreed to bring a poster to his work and also spread the word.

Trixie wanted to start looking for the owner of the dog right away, but there were chores to be done. This was laundry day and he needed to hang the laundry and help care for her little brother Bobby. Mart and Brian had been working on the yard all morning.

Finally lunch was done and the dishes were finished. Trixie told her mother that she would bring along Bobby and she and her brothers all headed out to the clubhouse. When they got there Honey Jim and Di were already there. After everyone took a seat Honey told them how she had gone shopping at the mall and had left posters all over the place. Jim had made more flyers and had heard from the vet.

"The dog is going to be ready to come back to the house tomorrow. I know that I can keep the dog, but I want him to go his owners. The dog is such a good dog and so friendly I'm sure that there is a family out there that is looking for him. I know how much I like Patch and I would go crazy looking for him if he got lost."

Everyone at the clubhouse agreed with Jim. But, they had not gotten any calls. They had left the number of the Wheeler home and the Belden home on the flyers and no one had called about the dog at all.

So, the friends decided to hit the road one more time. This time they went one town over, where the dog might have come from. As they walked down the main street they decided to split up once again. They stopped at every store and left flyers on every tree that they could find. They were walking up the sidewalk handing out the flyers when a man said that he worked for the newspaper. "I would be glad to run an article on the dog in the paper if you want."

Jim was very excited about this prospect. He knew that people would read the paper from all around. The paper the man worked for served his town too. "Thank you." he told the man.

They told the man about the dog and how Jim had found him half starved and sick. "He is at the vets office right now, and will be ready to go home tomorrow." Trixie told him.

The man took the notes and said that the article would be put in that evenings paper. "I hope that someone finds the article and recognizes the dog. I bet there are some kids out there who haven't been able to find their dog and miss him very much." he told him and went inside to write the story.

After the friends had spent the afternoon handing out flyers and hanging them out they ran out of them once again. They all piled into Brian's car and headed back home. They were somewhat disappointed, but they were hopeful that the article in the paper would help them find the owner.

Trixie was setting the table when the newspaper was delivered to the house. She ran to the newspaper and opened it up. There on the local news page was the article with a picture of the dog. The article wasn't very large, but it was big enough so that she was sure that if someone was looking for the dog and got the paper they would see the article.

That evening everyone waited by the phone for a call from someone, but there was none. Trixie was getting very disheartened as the rest of the bob-whites were getting.

Dennis Herrick was at home when he opened the paper that evening. He had worked late and had not gotten home until almost ten. He was browsing through the paper when he saw the dog and the article. He thought of his brother right away. His brother's dog George had been missing for almost a month. The dog looked like George somewhat, but he was awful thin. He thought that he would call his brother in the morning.

The next morning Corey was getting ready for work when he got a call from his brother Dennis. He had not seen the paper from the night before. He had been at meetings until late that evening and the paper was still on the hall table. He opened the paper and there was his George. He couldn't believe it. His family had gone camping and brought George with them. He had gotten loose and they hadn't seen him in weeks.

It was amazing that George had made it all the way to Sleepy[side on Hudson. The town was some thirty miles away from where he and his family had been camping. He had two girls who had put up posters everywhere and had gotten no answer. The missed George everyday.

Corey thanked his brother and called the number that was listed in the paper. Mrs. Trask was near the phone and answered it as both Honey and Jim ran to it. She listened to the man on the other side of the phone and said "Yes the dog sounds like the one you are missing. The dog is at a local vets and she gave him the address.

Thank you so much. I want to thank the young people that found him. I will be more than happy to pay for the vet bill too." Corey told him.

Mrs. Trask told him that wouldn't be necessary and Honey and Jim stood there jumping nearly grabbing the phone. As Mrs. Trask hung up the phone she told JIm and Honey. "The man's name is Corey and the dog's name is George. The dog got lost while they were camping and has been missing for weeks. It seem that George walked about thirty miles before he found you Jim." she told both Honey and Jim.

Honey called Trixie and told her about George. They all agreed to pile into Brian's car once again and meet Corey and his two daughters. They wanted to make sure that the dog was with good people and that he was indeed their dog George.

As the group waited at the vets office they watched as a car came into the driveway. Out of the car came a husband and wife and two girls. The bob-whites introduced themselves and walked with the family into the vets office.

As the nurse came out with the dog everyone knew that the dog was the families dog. He Jumped and tried his best to get to the two girls. The two girls ran over to him and hugged him. His tail was wagging so hard that there was no doubt this was his family.

Everyone thanked each other and the friends watched as the cold sick dog left happily with his family. Once more a mystery had been solved.


End file.
